I remember ~Doomsday-Dawn calling me one night around a year ago to talk photography. At that time, I was just beginning to branch out from my roots in fine art-oriented figure photography, and starting to explore other styles. He asked me if I'd done much portrait shooting, and I said a little bit, but not really very much. We ended up having quite a long conversation about portrait photography that evening. I remember him talking to me about things like how to flatter a model's face with light and shadow, how some models are easier to photograph if they're not looking directly at the camera, and a lot of other details that I found fascinating, but also really overwhelming at the time!

After that conversation, I began thinking a lot more about portrait photography. And since then, I've added quite a bit of portrait and head shot photography to my portfolio, keeping in mind things we had talked about in that conversation, and other things I started to discover along the way.

I've been having an ongoing dialog with another deviant recently who is hoping to start photographing people, as opposed to animals and other subjects. A lot of people interested in shooting nudes have a really hard time finding models and finding places to shoot when they're just starting out and needing to learn. My recommendation to this deviant was to start out shooting portraits. As I've done more portrait shooting, I believe it's a great way to learn, easier to approach logistically than setting up nude shoots, and everything you'll learn about photography from shooting portraits will carry through to future shoots in artistic nudes or other styles.

Here are some of the things I think make portrait shooting a really worthwhile endeavor even for those who hope to shift their focus to nudes, glamour, fashion, lifestyles, or other types of photography where "people" are the subject.

First, it's logistically a lot easier to set up a portrait shoot than a nude shoot. When you're just starting out, you don't have an established reputation and portfolio to show to models. Paying an experienced model is always worthwhile if you have a budget for it, because an experienced model has a LOT to teach an inexperienced photographer! But not everyone can afford to pay a model when they want to start shooting.

Asking friends or acquaintances to pose nude for you is not always the greatest idea! While artistic nudes are a beautiful art form, posing nude is not necessarily something every single person wants to do. It can be a really awkward thing to ask, and possibly even offensive to some people, if the person isn't already a nude model.

But, posing for portraits is a lot less intimidating. Sure, there are people who just don't like how they look, or just don't want to have their pictures taken. But it's a lot less awkward to ask, and even to be turned down for, "Hey, could I take a few portraits of you to help me learn photography," than asking someone to pose nude. And probably a lot more likely that there will be some "yes" answers, even if there are also some "no's."

Many people just starting out also worry about having space to shoot in, and lighting equipment to work with. Shooting portraits requires a lot less space, and a lot less equipment than full body shots. If you're filling most of the frame with the person's face and head, there is not very much background space showing in the shot. This means a much smaller area of "clean" attractive background necessary to find or set up to use. It means less "studio space" needed, because you're not trying to stand far away enough from your model to fit their whole body into the frame. And while you can certainly shoot beautiful portraits with natural or available light, if you are working toward learning studio lighting, you don't have to have a lot of lighting equipment to take really fine portraits.

When you're shooting portraits, you're essentially shooting a close-up. You're focusing on one particular distinct subject - a person's face. It's a much more "finite" element than being aware of where all of the limbs and curves and angles of the full body are composed in a photo. And, you only have to worry about nice light (whether natural/available light or studio lighting) on the person's face and head - not on all of the areas of their body. Less details to account for, when you're inexperienced, means a higher likelihood of "getting it right," and feeling positive about your expanding skills!

Finally, there are artistic reasons why a person's face is a great subject to practice with for learning about photography. As humans, we're very "aware" of faces and expressions. We're always taking conscious and subconscious cues from the faces of people around us. When you shoot a portrait and look at the finished image, it gives you really strong signals about where the lighting, shadows, expression, composition, and other factors are "working" or "not working." We're just "trained" to know whether of a picture of a face "looks right" or not.

So it's very strong feedback to what you're doing right and wrong when you shoot. A lot easier to identify for someone just starting, than trying to figure out why light and shadow over someone's whole body, pose, and composition just "don't look quite right." Those techniques and styles that you learn and find pleasing when shooting portraits certainly extend into a larger composition when you widen your focus. You'll not only be more aware of looking for those details, but also more aware of how and why they are functioning within your composition. Learning to see those elements on the smaller scale helps prepare you to consciously use them as tools in a larger scale.

Finally, I believe that the "expressive" qualities of an image can't be overemphasized. Whether those expressions are coming through a person's face only, body only, or both, once again, by spending some time studying photos of faces, you're cueing in on those expressive elements in a way that we as humans instinctively recognize. So once again, when you move toward shooting full body images or even pure figure shots with no face shown at all, you're going to have that much stronger awareness of how small details affect the expressive qualities of an image. Tiny shifts in muscle tension, tilt of the head, or even whether the person's eyes are directed toward the camera or toward something else entirely, all give a photo very different moods - whether or not it's a portrait, a nude, or another style altogether.

Portrait shooting is an art form in itself, and I'm not in any way trying to suggest that shooting a great portrait is "easy," or "something just for beginning photographers." But it does narrow down some of the elements of great photography to a subject that we as humans are inherently trained to recognize and relate to - the human face!

So, for everyone out there who hopes to shoot artistic nudes (or other styles of photography with human models), but doesn't know how to get started - why not try shooting portraits! It solves some of the problems of finding models, finding space, figuring out how and why your shots are or aren't looking how you want them to, helps you develop a portfolio, and starts developing some of the skills that will apply to other styles you branch into!

And last but not least, shooting portraits is fun! Some of my favorite images in my current gallery and portfolio aren't even nudes, but portraits. And who doesn't enjoy having a really nice portrait of her or himself! So even as you gain experience, and move forward into shooting other styles including nudes, sometimes it's just simply a pleasure to shoot some portraits.